Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1887-08-12
INDUS RI OPDS.
Advantages o noking and
Drying Meat as Practiced IL
the Southern States

Keeping Pork III surnnner.

4 y
bountry. and they contain facilities for
Islaughtering them and for preserving
heir meat. This meat IS conyenient
Tor cooking ID farm houses whore soft
soal as generally employed for cooking
purposes. Pork can be fried or boiled
IsYer q blazing fire, while Goals are
needed for broiling beefsteaks or m.lt-
ton chops. The fat of pork is very
convenient for frying fish, eggs, pota-:
toes, mnsh, batter cakes, and many
kinds Of vegetables Dried beans are
booked il no way soWell IS By soaking.
|parboiling. and baking in connection
with tolerably fat salt pork For a
steady diet for field hands or for men
Engaged il almost any kind Of hard
work there is no kind Of meat that
equals pork. It is preferred bv labor
ers in all parts of the world. It is as
generally eaten by out-of- door laborers
In Cuba as in Iceland. European and
American farmers who eat pork do four
times as much work as the natives Of
India, whose principal food is rice. n
II is practical to cure pork in more
Ways than beef and mutton, and there
| BY secure greater variety OF faVors,
Pork is delicious and tender when
cured and cooked in almost any man.
/ her. There is hardly any waste about
a dressed hog. 1t is true that good
soup can; be made of the bones and the
meat that adheres to them, as is the
case with fowls, beef, and mutton, but
the head and feet deservedlY rank
among the table delicacies. For eating
during warm weather there are few
kinds of meat that will compare with
boiled ham, unless it be boiled shoulder,
which is in some respects superior.
For a. breakfast dish there is no meat
superior to side bacon, cut in thin
slices, and fried or broiled. It contains
the desired proportions of fat and lean
meat, is tender, and has an appetizing
flavor. Sausage, which is generally
made of scraps of pork and favored
with herbs raised in the garden, is one
of the cheapest as it is one of the best
kinds of meat food. Pork can be pre-
pared for the table with less trouble
and cost than any kind of meat. "A
considerable amount of good butter
must be used in cooking or favoring a
beefsteak or q mutton-chop but ham,
bacon, picked pork. or sausage is
cooked in the fat it affords. !
Though pork is more easily preserv-
ed for use during warm weather than
beef and mutton. there is some trouble
in keeping it, if the heat is as great as
it is the present summer. Farmers in
the north may learn much from those
in the south in relation to curing the
flesh of The hog. The custom of smok-
ing. as well as of sailing and sugaring
the meat, is general there. Almost
every part of the hog is treated with
dry sugar and salt and then hung in
the smoke-house for additional curing.
It is never placed in brine, and care is
taken to get as much moisture out of
it as possible. The dry salt and sugar
that are applied to the surface Of the
meat attract much blood and. moisture,
which are drained off before The pieces
are hung in the smoke house. In this
building the process Of drying goes on
In connection with that Of smoking.
The weight of the meat is largely re-
duced. but nothing is lost exec ut moist
ure. The smoking and drying continue
for several weeks after the meat is
/ first hung up, and are repeated at in
tervals throughout the wear. Every
portion Of the meat is delicately flavor
ed with the smoke produced by burn
ing hickory bark or corn-cobs. IS
Pork cured in this way is not likely
to spoil if kept for many years, The
may deposit their eggs il the meet dur.
ing warm weather If they gain access
to it. They will not enter q smoke
house if it is kept dark. If it is desir-
ed to take the meat from the smoke
honse, it can be protected from insects
by wrapping each piece in paper, or BY
Towering it with cloth to which coat
| ing Of starch or -four paste is applied.
The smoked meat covered as recon-
mended can be hung III an open garnet
Or placed on shelves. where il will keep
an indefinite length Of time without liza
bility to injury. If it is placed III q
damp or unventilated room or in q eel
4 lar it may absorb moisture aud have its
surface covered with mold. In most
\ European countries old bacon is pre-
Iferred to new. tt contains less moist
Inre, is more tender, and has a better
\ flavor. Tie sploked meat prepared in
i our great packing estab lishme.ts does:
not possess good keeping qualities. JIG
is sailed by immersing il ii brine. and
] Is smoked only long enough to give its
Isurfacc q light cinnarnon color. Care
j is taken to keep all the moisture III il In
order to give i weigh e Is
i Picked pork Is much more common,
than dry-salted and smoked meat III
4 the northern states H sufficient care
Il is taken it lis not very difficult TO keen
Il salt pork sweet On account OF lack 81
care and improper place for storage
large quantities, however. are lost
il every season. The pork-barrel should
stand ID q cool cellar at some distance
u IRON the grouad. IT il is shaped like
the kits IN which FISH are packed, the
Il 1ayers Of meat can be better kept III
sIplace 1t should have q tight fitting
4 cover. that will keep out insects and
currents of air The pieces % meat
should be ctifs with 4 sharp knit 90
d that they viii be Of Uniform width and
4 have no ragged cd es, The bits Of de-
tached meat that becomes loOsened as
pieces Of pork are taken ont az the bar-
d rel and which fIoat on tire surface aof
the brine are almost certain to purify
and to cause the entire contents Of the
sIbarrel to become rancid or to acquire
Ian UNPLEASANT flayor. If every particlo
L % pork il kept snbnnerge il 30 brine
! that is s 1aturated solution Of nearly
4 pure salt there Is no danger Of IT'D spoil
Inc. 5 The 81 81 f1If.f6 nd III a4rAc.